Health & Fitness

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, around 108 million Americans go without dental insurance during any given year. And since paying the full weight of dental care is often out of the question for those living on low incomes, many people simply choose to go without or get by with as few cleanings and check-ups as they possibly can. However, if you do…

Recently, my sister and I were discussing our love/hate relationships with exercise when she told me something that struck me as funny. Apparently, she has trouble convincing herself to jog as long as she should, so she devised a plan. “When I know I’m not very motivated, I’ll have my husband get in the car and drop me off a few miles from home,” she said…

Though our family has already had one sneak peek, cold and flu season is about ready to really get started. Because I would like avoid as many sick visits to the doctor as I possibly can, I decided to check out our medicine cabinet and make sure it is ready for this winter — and beyond. What you should include in your medicine cabinet Obviously, what…

This article is by staff writer April Dykman. For years I’ve tried to keep a daily meditation habit. Every time I read a new study about how meditation can improve your health, I vow to start again and to do it every day. Sadly, the habit lasts for about a week. But I recently learned about a non-health reason to meditate: Some money experts credit it with their financial success. For instance, Reuters reported that…

This article is by editor Linda Vergon. Remember when 2014 was new? I’d rather not think about it, but more than half the year is behind us already and we’re moving into fall fairly quickly. For me, that’s a good time to start thinking about whether I’m reaching my goals for the year and what I need to do to correct my course. I would like to be in a position to tackle a “single…

When we asked you how to improve Get Rich Slowly, you told us you’d like an article on “The horrible, terrible, no good, very bad reality of paying for fertility treatments.” We can’t fit all of that into one post, but we did ask Joanna Lahey, who gave us a series on health insurance, to give a broad overview of the issue in this guest post. Joanna Lahey is an associate economics professor at the George H….

This article is by managing editor Ellen Cannon. Four years ago, my beloved kitty Zito developed kidney problems. She was only five years old, and her littermate, Mikey, was fine and healthy. But Zito had stopped eating and wasn’t drinking much water. I took her to the vet. An x-ray by the veterinarian showed that one of her kidneys was tiny and the other was not the normal size it should have been. The vet…

This reader story come from SB, a regular reader and commenter on GRS. SB writes about personal finance and personal development topics at One Cent at a Time. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how. This is my second guest post at this…

This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle. When I was considering leaving my full-time job, I had some concerns. My main concern? Health insurance. And it wasn’t just me. Since my husband didn’t have health insurance coverage through his job, he had been covered under my policy for years. Plus, we were going to be adding kids to our family, so we needed to think about them too. First, we took care of my husband’s…

This Reader Story comes from Gunnar, a filmmaker, a computer geek, a traveler and most recently an entrepreneur, who has launched the blog Wosla to inspire others to get healthy and save money. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how. Until recently…

This is a guest post from Catherine. She is 27 and was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minn. where she resides with her cat, Monty. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is trying to figure out her career path. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own…

“What are your resolutions this year?” a girlfriend recently asked me. I thought about the areas of my life I’d like to improve upon and responded, “I’d like to work less. I think I’m a workaholic.” She paused for a bit then hesitantly said, “…that doesn’t sound like a problem…” And indeed, when I’d talked about this with my mom just a week earlier, she said, “That’s a good addiction.” But it’s easy to confuse hard work…

This post is by staff writer April Dykman. As many longtime readers know, GRS founder J.D. Roth used to write “Spare Change” posts, which were a quick round-up of personal finance articles from around the web. He also used these posts as a chance to share bits and pieces about non-financial aspects of his life. Well, today I’m going to do those two things and attempt to revive a reader favorite! Though for now, these…

This is a post from staff writer Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. I’ve always assumed that I’m screwed, longevity-wise. With a father and a grandfather who had heart attacks in their 60s and an uncle who had a stroke in his early 70s, I figured the genetic cards were stacked against me, at least when it comes…

This the second of four articles about health insurance by Joanna Lahey, an associate professor of economics at the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). You can read the first one here. The subsequent articles will be published on the next two Saturdays. In part two of our exploration of health economics, we will explore the more common structures of…

Today’s “ask the readers” is a little different. Instead of giving another GRS reader advice, we’re asking you to give us advice. For years, GRS readers have been asking for more information about health insurance and health care. We spend a lot of our money on health care, and that will only increase as we age. With all of the political wrangling recently over the Affordable Care Act, it’s difficult to know exactly what’s really…

This is a guest post from Jason Price from One Money Design. Dave Ramsey is right. He’s always saying that you have to be prepared because of Murphy’s Law. Murphy eventually catches up to all of us. The law says that whatever can go wrong, will eventually go wrong. It applies perfectly to personal finance because we all know that cars need repairs, the AC goes out in the heat of summer, and so on….

This is a post from staff writer Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks. Longtime readers may remember a few things about me: At various times, I’ve studied to be a priest, a doctor, a teacher, and a financial advisor (though I was only two of those)….

For the next week (or two), we’ll be sharing “audition” pieces from folks interested in being new staff writers at Get Rich Slowly. Your job is to let us know what you think of each of these writers. Pay attention, give feedback, and after a couple of weeks we’ll ask which writers you prefer. This article is from popular GRS commenter, El Nerdo.. Nerdo’s first audition piece was about how to learn to cook. I…

This post is from staff writer Tim Sullivan. If you’re anything like me, you’re barely insured. I don’t work for a company that offers benefits and so I’ve had to shop for individual insurance. Setting aside what a headache that was, I’ve ended up with catastrophic insurance. This means that if I step off a curb wrong and break every bone in my leg, I won’t be in totally ruined. That said, I don’t get…

This is a guest post by Carol Parker, content manager at Drugsdb.com. Carol holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Albany College of Pharmacy. These days, getting sick can be a costly business, especially for those who can’t afford medical insurance. Not only does a person have to worry about paying the consultation bill from the doctor, but the cost of prescriptions seems to skyrocket each time you need to have them filled. The good…

This is a post from staff writer Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks. It’s that time of year — time to weed out all the stuff in the Brokamp household to get ready for the first yard sale of the season. It’s a great way to…

This post is by staff writer April Dykman. How’s your posture right now? Are you slumped over in your chair, craning your neck to see the computer screen? Over time, those habits could cost you both in terms of health and doctor appointment copays. Last month I wrote about my ongoing search for a cure for shoulder and neck pain, and how numerous appointments with doctors and therapists cost thousands of dollars over the years…

This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Frugal Cool blog for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. On Valentine’s Day, when other people were exchanging chocolates, flowers and maybe even body fluids, I was undergoing the Attack of the Choleliths. That’s “gallstones,” for those lucky enough never to have had them. “Cholelith” makes a swell Scrabble word in the future but it’s not…

This post is by staff writer April Dykman. “What do you do for a living?” That’s one of the first questions we ask each other in our society. The choice of how you earn a living tells others a lot about you, whether those preconceived notions are accurate or not. If you’re at a party and someone says they’re an neurosurgeon, that’s pretty impressive. You know that meant years of study and took a lot…

This post is from staff writer April Dykman. I’ve started to notice something about my spending habits, and maybe you can relate. When I’m sad, stressed, or emotional, I often justify expenses by telling myself “I deserve it.” Before I wised up financially, my self-rewards were expensive. Spa services, new clothes, beauty products I didn’t want or need. I’d wander into a store, or maybe online, and buy something to cheer myself up. Although the…

This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. About a year ago I sprained my ankle pretty badly. It happened as I ran out of a burning orphanage, carrying half a dozen toddlers. Okay, that’s a lie. But it sure sounds cooler than the truth, which is “I was woolgathering and fell down some…

This is a guest post from Louisa Rogers, a consultant who provides leadership, management, and communication coaching and training to businesses. Previously, Louisa told us what it’s like to have even better than enough, described how she’s getting a fresh start on the path to prosperity, and wrote about living on less in Mexico. As a middle-aged fitness junkie, I’m always interested in what motivates people to get in shape. Typically, folks say they want…

Hi guys, April here. J.D. is off the grid and somewhere in South America, so in his absence I’m introducing new staff writer Tim Sullivan. We’ll do a formal introduction for Tim later this week; for now, a mini-bio is at the end of this post. Congratulations! You just ran a whole three miles on the treadmill. Or maybe you just took your first hot yoga class, or took your bike to work instead of…

This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Surviving And Thriving. Six of the highest-selling prescription medications in the United States will be “off-patent” before the end of 2012. The costs associated with those currently pricey meds will drop faster than the Dow on a bad day. This is great…

This post is from staff writer April Dykman. Weight and finances have been discussed at length on personal finance blogs, but mostly the similarities between money and weight management. There’s been little discussion about the total annual cost of obesity for an individual because most research offers anecdotal evidence of higher costs associated with obesity, but not a dollar amount for a single person. Last fall George Washington University released a report [PDF] that put…

It’s been a while since I posted a fitness update around here. I’ve been a little scared to — some of you hate them! More than that, though, I’ve had a nagging injury. I’ve still been able to do my Crossfit exercises, but a bad Achilles tendon has prevented me from running since early January. Well, my foot has been feeling better lately, so last weekend I joined 30,000 other Portlanders in the Shamrock Run….

This post is from staff writer April Dykman. When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, what will you toast to? Health? Long life? Those are common toast themes, but simply clinking glasses and sipping champagne at the beginning of the year isn’t likely to lead to health and longevity. I recently read an article about Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea southwest of Italy, that has one of the highest…

When Kris and I traveled to England and Ireland with her parents in 2007, I came home with a financial epiphany. Actually, the trip highlighted a concept that I’d only vaguely understood before: I was a slave to the tyranny of Stuff. I had accumulated way too many things in my life, and this was causing me a lot of mental and physical stress. In many ways, the things I owned actually owned me. Over…

This guest post from Jaime Tardy is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. Jaime writes about her financial journey at Eventual Millionaire. This piece is a follow-up to her first reader story from June, in which…

This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. Simple living is great. Avoiding shopping malls in favor of clothing swaps, cooking meals at home with your spouse, holding a music jam with friends instead of shelling out big bucks for a concert — all these activities not only save you money, but they also connect you more deeply with what…

This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman. Last week, Robert Brokamp lamented about his not-ready-for-prime-time bikini body, asking GRS readers “whether it might make sense occasionally to engage in some extreme fiscal or physical fitness in order to see bigger results sooner, which could serve as encouragement to keep going.” Brokamp’s post was highly entertaining to be sure, but I immediately fired off an e-mail to J.D. asking if I could answer his…

This is a guest post from Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks. Summer’s here, so I’ve been working on my bikini body. But I’m not getting very far. I’ve lost about three pounds over the past three weeks. If you saw me, you may not think…

This article is by staff writer Adam Baker. Baker recently posted a transparent personal update entitled “When to Quit Traveling“. Today J.D. is very thankful to have staff writers, because his computers (plural!) are on the fritz, and he has no time to write about money… I struggle with weight. In fact, it’s a far more difficult issue for me than personal finance. Honestly, I’m not completely sure why, but it’s true. There are many…

This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman. A 2009 AP/AOL survey, Debt Stress in the United States, found that American adults are experiencing significantly more debt-related stress than reported four years ago when a similar survey was conducted. The survey also found that those with high stress levels were likely to experience health problems, including headaches, back pain, muscle tension, depression, anxiety, ulcers, and heart problems. It seems that a high level of…

I made $120 for one hour of work last week. On Tuesday, I participated in a neuroeconomics study at a nearby university. For sixty minutes, I lay inside an MRI scanner while answering questions about money. When I had finished, the researchers paid me $120. In cash. I admit that with the four hour round-trip and the half hour of wait time, my hourly rate drops to something nearer $20, but that’s still not bad….

Few things can blow a budget like unexpected medical bills. Even those who practice frugality and invest for the future can find their financial plans smashed to pieces by unexpected health problems. And for those who don’t have their financial house in order, a medical crisis can be devastating. Five years ago, I had surgery to replace the ACL on my right knee. Though I am insured through Kris’ job, I found the experience frustrating….

My sister-in-law has cancer. Last week, a biopsy revealed that Stephanie has a cancerous lump on her thyroid. She’ll likely have her thyroid removed, meaning she’ll need to take medication for the rest of her life. (She’s 37 years old.) She’ll also probably need a handful of radioactive iodine chemotherapy treatments. Prognosis positive Jeff and Stephanie have both settled down a bit after the initial scare. They’ve heard from many sources, including Steph’s grandmother, that…

For the past six months, I’ve been applying Get Rich Slowly principles to physical fitness. By making small changes, I’ve lost seventeen pounds since January 1st. I’ve begun lifting weights regularly for the first time in my life. I’m even preparing for an October marathon! I injured myself at the end of May, however, and spent the past few weeks recuperating. While waiting for my leg to heal, I turned to cycling to maintain my…

Here’s a quick plug for my fitness blog, Get Fit Slowly. A bunch of us started the one hundred pushup challenge today. Our goal is to be able to do one hundred pushups by the end of July. This seems nearly impossible to me right now — I can’t even do ten pushups. I’ll be posting daily reminders to prompt participants to do their exercise. If you’d like to join us, swing on over to…

I go to the gym every morning at about eight. There’s a guy who shows up every morning at about nine. He’s huge: big, buff, and tanned. But the thing is, while I’m lifting little tiny weights because I’m just starting out, he lifts little tiny weights because that’s his way of staying big and buff. Like me, he’s getting fit slowly. Apparently, as I learned this morning, he’s also getting rich slowly. I forgot…

Lately, I’ve been making rumblings about getting in shape again. I want to get fit slowly. The trick is figuring out how to do it. It took a lot of reading and a lot of trial and error to take control of my finances, but I’ve finally achieved a healthy attitude toward money. Now I hope to do the same with physical fitness. But where to start? One approach would be to just throw money…

For the past few months, a gym to which I used to belong has been sending me “special offers” in an attempt to entice me to return. Because I’ve begun focusing on fitness, these almost work. But so far frugality has prevailed. It bugs me, though, that the “limited time offer” isn’t so limited. First it expired at the end of November, then the end of December, then the end of January, and now the…

While I recently managed to pull myself out of debt, I’ve reached a nadir with my health. I’m in bad shape. I had to buy fat man pants the other day. I’m not putting it off any longer — it’s time to set my Get Fit Slowly project in motion. Meanwhile, here are some recent personal finance stories from other sites: My favorite personal finance piece this week came from Trent at The Simple Dollar….

This is a guest post from Shiva, who wrote to offer some advice on how to shop for prescription medicine: don’t assume that the new new stuff is better! I am a general internist — a physician who provides primary care to adult patients — and am on the faculty of a medical school, where I teach medical students and residents. One of my interests is the excess marketing and use of expensive yet marginally effective prescription drugs. I have…

Sometimes reader questions force me to learn about aspects of personal finance that are outside my realm of experience. For example, I don’t deal directly with health insurance. We’re covered under my wife’s plan, and I’ve never had to think about it before. But insurance is a pressing issue for many people. New reader Eric writes with his predicament: My wife and I are both self-employed — we value the freedom to continue working for…

My cousin Ron died of cancer last Sunday. He was 47. I spent much of the past two days preparing a video presentation for this afternoon’s memorial service. After scanning and processing scores of photographs, and after talking with family members at the funeral, I’m reminded of three important points. This advice is trite, but it’s important. Create a will. I know you’re young, and I know you’re not going to die any time soon,…

Several years ago I discovered John Stone Fitness, a site that documented the life of a man whose body looked like this: as he undertook a journey to make his body look like something else entirely: Stone had a problem, and knew it. He educated himself, discovered a solution, and applied himself to achieving his physical fitness goals. We can learn some valuable lessons from Stone, and not just about health and wellness. Stone’s example…

In Monday’s post about shopping around for the best price on generic drugs, Tyler added an excellent tip: I don’t go to the doctor much, but have had some prescriptions filled in the last couple of years. Every time there was at least one prescription with a rebate offer if you went to the official website. I never would have thought of that but I was curious what exactly the expensive ($32 after using insurance)…

Several weeks ago I wrote about the high cost of being fat. I shared how I’ve spent $4500 over the past four years because I’m overweight. Since that post, I’ve been working with Lauren Muney, a wellness coach (about which more later). This morning, Muney sent me a New York Times article by Damon Darlin which describes how extra weight leads to higher costs. Being fat costs money — tens of thousands of dollars over…

I am fat. I am fat, but I am not obese. I do not pause to catch my breath when climbing stairs. I do not avoid hikes or sports for fear of failure. But — no mistake — I am fat. I am far above my normal weight. I carry 205 pounds on a frame built for someone forty pounds lighter. [PDF: Body mass index and health, from the USDA.] How does this relate to…

Three years ago I had surgery on my knee. I’d done a typical out-of-shape middle-aged man thing and played soccer (or football, for you international types) when I was not fit. A wrong step on uneven ground caused me to rip out my ACL and tear up some cartilage. The thing that amazed me about the medical treatment wasn’t the quality of the doctors, nor the amazing advances in medicine (they took a ligament from…

Here’s a tip I cannot believe I’m sharing in public. For years I’ve battled dandruff. I mean I’ve had it bad. Recently it’s reached nightmarish proportions — my scalp was like North Dakota in January. I tried all sorts of remedies. I tried Selsun Blue. I tried Head and Shoulders. I tried Denorex. Nothing worked. I even tried not washing my hair at all. That didn’t help the dandruff and just created the added grossness…

In the United States, we value our cars. We’ve become a nation of drivers. It rarely occurs to us that walking might be an option, even for short journeys. One-quarter of all automobile trips in the U.S. are less than a mile in length; forty percent are less than two miles (one source of many). Looked at another way: of all trips less than a mile in length, eighty percent are made by car (source)….

Many people who live frugal lifestyles swear by alternative transportation. They ride mass transit. They commute by bicycle. They walk. Many don’t even own a car. Summer is approaching. Maybe you have considered biking to work. But what sort of gear do you need? An AskMetafilter user wondered the same thing: What’s the essential gear for bike commuting? I’ll be commuting to work by bike, and I’d like to know what’s considered the essential gear,…

Consumerism Commentary has posted a two-part guide to improved sleep, explaining that good sleep is one of the best free investments you can make in yourself. I spent much of last year on a quest for improved sleep, and eventually found it. Here’s how. In The Owner’s Manual for the Brain, Pierce J. Howard summarizes sleep research with the following lists: To get to sleep more quickly: Consume dairy products (the warmer the better). Avoid…

Chris Zdeb of The Edmonton Journal has drafted a list of Forty Frugal Fitness Solutions. People don’t think there’s an alternative to having to spend money to get fit “because I don’t think our promotion of what you’re calling ‘frugal fitness’, has been as strong as our promotion of vigorous activity at fitness centers. But that’s partly because the people who are promoting the vigorous activity in fitness centers are the centers,” explains Wendy Rodgers…

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